TheUngeek: I have heard a lot about Kies and how awful it is. How important is that to the use of the phone? Likewise the new HTC Sync?

Kies put me off moving up the Samsung range. I was happy with the HTC Magic and the Nexus One. OTA updates leave Kies for dead.

Why use Kies though? Just use Odin.

Kies isn't needed for anything at all.

EDIT:Second part of the comparison going up soon (well, really a primer to the second part, but anyways).

This one will have a video showcasing their relative video playback merits. Lots of detail, and the blog post that goes with it will have a text file available with all the video's properties (video/audio encoding, bitrate, subs format etc via Media Info).

I try to keep an eye on what will work for "Joe User". I could use ODIN and have done...but puts me off the beaten path and for the moment I'm in "just works" mode. The OTA process on my daughter's Nexus One has been a good 'baseline control' on the phone update experiment. It's a nice process and it works well. No PC required.

I mainly use Linux so ODIN is still a pain in the arse because I have to battle the youngest daughter for access to the Windows PC. :-) Does ODIN work on Linux?

____________________________________________________I'm on a high fibre diet.

If somebody's looking to buy an HTC Sensation from Telecom and want to save $100 on their purchase, I can probably help there.

No, it's not my test phone, it's a discount for online purchase from Telecom NZ. PM me if you're interested, though i don't know how long the discount is valid for. And it's just a one-off transaction thing.

Galaxy S has gone to its new owner. HTC Sensation has gone to its new owner. Galaxy S3 has gone to its new owner. Now using Galaxy Note 3. Skipping Note 4 I think...

So....my XT contract comes up this month and I've been using a Nexus One up until this point. Please convince me to get a Sensation - actually I need a credible argument so I have some answers when my wife starts asking questions about my new phone.......help.